（本文来自一篇大学英语课文，当年没有学好，20年后才引起了我的共鸣，好不容易在网上找到了原文，放在这里和大家一起重温一下，应该会有收获。为了便于英语困难的同志阅读，我又在前人的基础上做了一个粗糙的翻译，希望大家多指正）     

          Many people in the United States spend most of their free time watching television. Certainly, there are many worthwhile programs on television, including news, educational programs for children, programs on current social problems, plays, movies, concerts, and so on. Nevertheless, perhaps people should not be spending so much of their time in front of the TV. Mr. Mayer imagines what we might do if we were forced to find other activities.
          I would like to propose that for sixty to ninety minutes each evening, right after the early evening news, all television broadcasting in the United States be prohibited by law.
          Let us take a serious, reasonable look at what the results be if such a proposal were accepted. Families might use the time for a real family hour. Without the distraction of TV, they might sit around together after dinner and actually talk to one another. It is well known that many of our problems -- everything, in fact, from the generation gap to the high divorce rate to some forms of mental illness -- are caused at least in part by failure to communicate. We do not tell each other what is disturbing us. The result is emotional difficulty of one kind or another. By using the quiet family hour to discuss our problems, we might get to know each other better, and to like each other better.
         On evenings when such talk is unnecessary, families could rediscover more active pastimes. Freed from TV, forced to find their own activities, they might take a ride together to watch the sunset. Or they might take a walk together (remember feet?) and see the neighborhood with fresh, new eyes.

             With free time and no TV, children and adults might rediscover reading. There is more entertainment in a good book than in a month of typical TV programming. Educators report that the generation growing up with television can barely write an English sentence, even at the college level. Writing is often learned from reading. A more literate new generation could be a product of the quiet hour.   

         A different form of reading might also be done, as it was in the past: reading aloud. Few pastimes bring a family closer together than gathering around and listening to mother or father read a good story. The quiet hour could become the story hour.  When the quiet hour ends, the TV networks might even be forced to come up with better shows in order to get us back from our newly discovered activities.
         At first glance, the idea of an hour without TV seems radical. What will parents do without the electronic baby-sitter? How will we spend the time? But it is not radical at all. It has been only twenty-five years since television came to control American free time. Those of us thirty-five and older can remember childhoods without television, spent partly with radio -- which at least involved the listener's imagination -- but also with reading, learning, talking, playing games, inventing new activities. It wasn't that difficult. Honest. The truth is we had a ball.

译文：《关掉你家的电视：清静一小时》

      在美国，许多人把他们大部分的空闲时间花在了看电视上。的确，电视里有很多值得一看的节目，包括新闻、儿童教育节目、讨论当前社会问题的节目、戏剧、电影、音乐会等等。然而，人们也许不应该在电视机前花费那么多的时间。如果我们（不看电视而）被迫去找一些其他的活动，那我们可以做些什么呢？对这一问题，梅耶先生做了一番想像。

       我想建议每天晚上一播完晚间新闻，美国所有的电视播放都依法停止60至90分钟。

       让我们严肃认真、合情合理地来看一下，如果这一建议被采纳的话，会有什么样的结果。千家万户也许会利用这段时间作为真正完全属于家庭的一段时间。没有了电视机的干扰，他们晚饭后也许会围坐在一起，彼此亲切地交谈起来。众所周知，我们的许多问题——实际上是所有的问题，从代沟到高离婚率，再到某些精神疾病——至少部分地是由于没能很好地交流而引起的。我们谁也不把自己心头的烦恼告诉对方，结果感情上便产生了这样那样的问题。（关掉电视后我们就可以）利用这安静的、全家聚在一起的这段时间来讨论我们的各种问题，我们就可能会更加理解对方，更加地爱对方。 

       有些晚上，这种交谈可能是没有必要的，那么各家各户就会去重新发现一些更为积极的活动。如果我们挣脱了电视的束缚而不得不另寻自己的活动，我们也许就会（一家人高高兴兴地）开着车，去看日落。或者一起去（公园）散散步（还记得自己长着两条腿），用新奇的目光观察住处周围的地区。

有了空闲时间而又没有电视可看，大人小孩便有可能重新发现阅读。一本好书里的乐趣，胜过一个月中所有的电视节目。教育家们的报告指出，伴随着电视长大的这一代人几乎不能写好一句英语句子，甚至（我们很多的）大学生也是这样。写作往往是通过阅读学会的。每晚清静这么一个小时，可以造就出具有更高文化水平的一代新人。

       （关闭电视以后）各种各样的阅读形式可能会出现，（甚至再回到）过去那样：高声地朗读。没有多少娱乐方式能比一家人聚在一起，听爸爸或妈妈朗读一篇优美的文章更能使一家人的关系变得融洽而和睦。没有电视干扰的这一小时，可以成为（家里）朗读故事的一小时。等这清静的一小时过去后，想要再把我们从这些新发现的娱乐活动中拉回去，电视联播公司也许要（使出浑身解数）被迫推出一些更好的节目来才行了。

       乍一看，停播一小时电视的想法似乎过于偏激。如果没有电视作为电子保姆，那我们作父母的该怎么（带孩子）呢？我们又将怎么来打发这些时间呢？其实这个想法一点也不偏激。电视开始主宰美国人的空闲时间，至今也不过才二十五年。我们中那些年满和年过三十五岁的人，还能回忆起没有电视相伴的童年，那时我们有一部分空闲时间以收音机为伴——听收音机至少还可以发挥听者的想像力——但另外我们还看书、学习、交谈、做游戏、发明一些新的活动。日子也并不难过。真的。那时我们确实过得挺开心。